Clay Lane Blog

Exercises

Posts tagged Exercises in the blog

November 9 October 27 OS

How Much?

Consider this sentence:

He was surprised by the news.

Just how surprised was he? Extremely, quite, more than a little, slightly, scarcely even, or simply not? Or was he sufficiently surprised to be astonished, or maybe flabbergasted?

Try it with these other sentences:

1 He was frightened by the film.

2 He was responsible for the defeat.

3 The car was damaged in the accident.

4 He was ashamed of what he had done.

5 He could remember what happened.

6 He was puzzled by what he had heard.

7 He was sure they would agree.

8 He was satisfied with the result.

Some possible words and phrases can be seen by clicking this button.

Suggested Words and Phrases

Opposites

Opposites

This is adapted from an idea in NL Clay’s Exercises 12-13 (1933).

Attach appropriate negative prefixes to these words, e.g. grateful → ungrateful. There may be more than one answer for some words.

1 Adequate. Approve. Attentive. Balanced. Credible. Discreet. Dress. Fasten.

2 Formal. Inter. Involved. Man. Moderate. Obedient. Partial. Pious.

3 Please. Probable. Qualify. Respect. Satisfied. Secure. Suitable. Sure. Valid.

Suggested Answers (A-Z)

What Do You See?

The first of these was given to students in Clay’s Exercises 12-13 (1933); the others are mine. Choose one of the following and describe it, introducing people and action.

1 A waiting room.

2 A lift.

3 A cricket pavilion.

4 A shop at an airport.

5 A stables.

Try to make sure your scene helps the reader to answer six questions: What? Who? Where? When (e.g. in the day, or in history)? How? Why? But remember: Show, don’t tell!

Composition

Rewrite these sentences to eliminate the word ‘and’. There may be several ways of doing this. For example:

I scrambled to my feet and looked around.

→ Scrambling to my feet, I looked around.

→ When I had scrambled to my feet, I looked around.

1 I asked for a night’s lodging and she said I was welcome to the bed in the loft.

2 I fitted my key into the door and just then I noticed a man and he was at my elbow.

3 I walked into the room and there was an old man and he was at the head of the table and he rose.

These sentences are based on sentences in the novels of John Buchan.

Expression

Proverbial Wisdom

From Think and Speak

Explain these proverbial remarks by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) to someone who has not understood them.

1 What Reason weaves, by Passion is undone.

2 Damn with faint praise.

3 For forms of Government let fools contest —
Whate’er is best administered is best.

Reported Speech

Reported or indirect speech is speech that is given in summary form rather than transcribed word for word and placed between quotation marks. For example, this speech from Tolstoy’s War and Peace

“I am very glad I did not go to the ambassador’s,” said Prince Hippolyte “— so dull.”

may be reported as

Prince Hippolyte said that he was very glad that he had not gone to the Ambassador’s, as it would have been so dull.

Read this exchange from the same novel:

Anna Pávlovna: “Do you know the Abbé Morio? He is a most interesting man.”

Monsieur Pierre: “Yes, I have heard of his scheme for perpetual peace, and it is very interesting but hardly feasible.”

See if you can report the substance of the conversation in the same fashion as the example above. You may wish to begin with something like

Anna asked Pierre...